Facial tissue cartons can generally be classified as either one of two basic styles—flat cartons and upright cartons. In the case of flat cartons, folded tissue sheets are laid flat in the bottom of the carton and withdrawn through an opening in the carton top which partially extends down the front sidewall. The tissues within the flat carton may be interfolded for pop-up dispensing or merely laid on top of each other for reach-in dispensing. In the case of upright cartons, the tissues are folded into an inverted u-shaped clip and are interfolded for pop-up dispensing. The tissues are withdrawn through a dispensing opening in the top of the carton, which may contain a poly film having a slit to hold the popped up tissue in place.
While the majority of upright and flat cartons are four sided cubic structures, alternative shapes have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,550 discloses an upright tissue carton having a decahedral prismatic configuration and U.S. Pat. No. 7,568,594 discloses an upright tissue carton having an oblong shape.
Inventors of cartons for storing and dispensing consumer goods other than tissue products have also experimented with shapes other than conventional cubes. For example, it is known to round off or chamfer certain corners of the carton to provide a distinctive appearance. This has typically been achieved in the past by providing lines of weakness, such as creasing lines or score lines, in the blank at the areas forming the edges of the container. These lines of weakness allow the blank to be folded in such a way that the corner does not sharply bend but instead progressively bends between two adjacent planar walls. The resulting cartons have a differentiated appearance and in some instances may improve handling and grasping of the carton. One such carton is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,016 which discloses a carton having beveled edges.
Alternatively shaped tissue dispensers to the ubiquitous cubic upright tissue cartons could offer an advantage in product differentiation. Alternatively shaped tissue dispensers could be offered as a new premium product and upright tissue dispensers as a mid-tier product. However, alternatively shaped dispensers are typically not as well suited to the size of standard tissue stacks, which often fit better and dispense better from the traditional shapes. This can significantly reduce the number of sheets that can fit into the alternatively shaped dispenser and/or cause dispensing problems (sheet tears, multiple dispensing, sheet fallback) when dispensing. Dispensing problems can cause a perception of poor quality in the mind of the user/purchaser making it more difficult to position an alternatively shaped dispenser as a premium product.
Therefore, a need exists for dispenser shapes that are significantly differentiated from existing upright or flat tissue carton shapes; yet, at the same time, can dispense tissue stacks as well or better than current upright or flat dispensers for a similar sheet count tissue stack.